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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump's threats to slap steep tariffs on Chinese and Mexican imports may have won him votes in Republican primaries but they would likely backfire, severely disrupting U.S. manufacturers that increasingly depend on global supply chains.

LONDON (Reuters) - The dollar was on its best run in almost a year on Thursday, pressuring commodities and shares after yet another Federal Reserve official talked up the chance of more than one hike in U.S interest rates this year.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home prices are rising faster than wages in most of the United States, making homeownership increasingly difficult for average Americans in some of the most populous areas of the country, according to a report released on Thursday.

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Yum Brands Inc , owner of KFC and Pizza Hut, is in talks with private equity firms including KKR & Co LP and Hopu Investments to sell a minority stake in its China operations as it prepares to spin off the once booming unit, two sources familiar with the plans said on Thursday.

ZURICH (Reuters) - A slump in investment banking revenues pushed Credit Suisse to accelerate its cost-cutting plan as Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam admitted he had been unaware of trading positions that triggered more big writedowns in the first quarter.

(Reuters) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ruled Exxon Mobil Corp must include a climate change resolution on its annual shareholder proxy, a defeat for the world's largest publicly traded oil producer, which had argued it already provides adequate carbon disclosures.

SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd , the world's biggest maker of smartphones and memory chips, announced on Thursday that it plans to adopt a corporate culture akin to a startup, seeking to become more nimble as growth slows.

Following yesterday's dollar spike which topped the longest rally in the greenback in one month, the prevailing trade overnight has been more of the same, and in the last session of this holiday shortened week we have seen the USD rise for the fifth consecutive day on concerns the suddenly hawkish Fed (at least as long as the S&P is above 2000) may hike sooner than expected, which in turn has pressured WTI below $39 earlier in the session, and leading to weakness across virtually all global risk assets.

And since a stronger dollar means a weaker Yuan, more potential devaluation, greater capital outflows but most importantly lower commodity prices and key among them cheaper oil, now flirting with sliding below $39 to the downside, which would lead to its first weekly decline, as lower oil means lower risk prices in general as per the very well-known correlation shown below...

... traders walking in today are greeted by something they have barely seen in the past month's bear market rally: a sea of red: not only are S&P500 futures down nearly 0.5% in today's illiquid session, but European shares have retreated for a fourth day, while raw-materials producers led declines among Asian equities as the Bloomberg Commodity Index slumped for a second day. Industrial commodities like iron ore fell for a third day, while gold has continued to drift lower. Government bonds advanced in Australia and the euro area.

Earlier today, we brought you the official statement in which ISIS claims responsibility for the attacks that left 34 people dead in Brussels on Tuesday. The group promises black days for all crusader nationsand an attack more devastating and bitter¯ than those that have come before Allah permitting,of course).

Paris fugitive Salah Abdeslam has been variously characterized as the ringleader of the cell that was behind this week's attack on Brussels. That's probably because he's now a household name in Europe and officials want the public to think a kind of field general has been captured. In reality, Abdeslam aborted his martyrdom mission in Paris and got himself arrested instead of dying for the cause.That's not exactly behavior consistent with that seen in confirmed commanders like Abdelhamid Abaaoud and Omar al-Shishani. Rather, it would appear that Abdeslam effectively inherited Abaaoud's cell upon returning to Belgium after backing out of the Paris attacks. ISIS likely saw some utility in keeping him around and Tuesday's bombings suggest retaining him as a kind of organizer was a prudent decision. Or perhaps he was never meant to die in Paris. Who knows.

(Abaaoud - left - and friends, in "better" times)

Whatever the case, the important takeaway from Tuesday would appear to be that Abaaoud's cell continued to operate and expand five months after his death and indeed, the group appears to have been using at least one of the very same bomb makers, Najim Laachraoui (who, incidentally, authorities now claim died in the Brussels airport).

Three strands of terrorism currently have Turkey wrapped in a deadly embrace. One strand made its presence felt March 19, when a suicide bomber detonated his device among a group of tourists on Istiklal Street, one of Istanbul's main pedestrian shopping areas, killing at least four people and wounding dozens, including 24 foreigners.

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